The city government is projecting 50,000 to 60,000 tourists will be arriving to spend their weekends in Baguio.
City Tourism Officer Aloysius Mapalo said the projection is based on the trend of travel, as tourists register and get their quick response (QR) codes from the online tourist registration portal as the date of their actual travel nears.
Mapalo said pre-pandemic data shows that Holy Week is the peak tourism season in the city, followed by the Panagbenga Festival, Christmas season, and the summer months.
From April 14 to 17, 87,262 tourists arrived with 40,612 of them arriving on April 14.
Mapalo said around 45 percent of the arrivals stayed at accommodation establishments for two to three days while the others either stayed with friends or relatives, or were day visitors only.
Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio spokesperson and Baguio Counry Club Client Relations Manager Andrew Pinero said member hotels were fully booked on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
He said the tourism industry is slowly picking up after a major slump brought about by the lockdowns as a result of the surges and peaking of Covid-19 cases.
Pinero said they continue to be vigilant against the virus to avoid a repeat of the community quarantine that severely affected the tourism industry.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Tourism said the industry suffered the most when people were made to stay home.
Hotels, restaurants, resorts, and destinations closed, resulting in workers being retrenched.
“We don’t want that to happen again. That is why while the city government has eased its protocols, we are maintaining the health and safety protocols in our facilities because, in the end, it will be the industry that will suffer in case of another spike in cases,” Pinero said. – PNA
April 20, 2024
